US Drone Strike Missed al-Shabaab Leader

The weekend US drone strike that destroyed multiple vehicles in the Somali town of Barawe and killed five people was initially reported to have been targeting Mohamed Abdikadar, and failed. It still failed, but now it is reported to have targeted al-Shabab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane.

It still failed, as Godane wasn’t killed, but Abdikadar may or may not be, according to different reports, and killed a previously unmentioned “leader” named Ahmed Sahal Amey.

Godane was apparently “in the vicinity” at the time, but not actually hit by the strike. Amey’s promotion to “senior leader” in reports to the Western media seem to have been entirely an effort to make the strike appear to have worked.

Officials say they have no clue as to Godane’s whereabouts, but know he is alive. They speculated he might have been wounded, but only on the basis that their missiles hit Somalia, and he was in Somalia, so it’s conceivable he got wounded by them.